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I joined my first startup right out of college in 1978. 35 years later my son is graduating from college and leaving for Northern California to join a startup. Here's 10 things I wish my dad told me before I decided I wasn't going to be a plumber. For every step... Read More
There are three kinds of people: 1) Those that can count and, 2) Those that can’t. Tis a rare occasion when people can be accurately sorted into binary buckets. We humans are more complex than that. Most of our traits can’t simply be placed into an all-in or all-out bucket. Our... Read More
The other day I had the opportunity to observe several founders pitching to investors for capital. What stood out to me was the difference between the If's’s and the Is’s. And it hit me. I realized every “IF” and every “It Will” adds risk for an investor. Investor’s want to... Read More
If you've ever worked for a Silicon Valley tech startup there is one area where SV firms are challenged and that's in internal Information Technology (IT). Doing non-strategic IT in the land of technology innovation is like being the company maintenance engineer and not as in the guy who maintains... Read More
So you want to be a founder right? Well there are some tools of the trade you’re going to need to succeed. Scotch –Bottled courage to make ridiculous asks from people who don’t want to talk to you. Use it before swallowing your pride and apologizing to people who’ve you’ve let... Read More
Hi I'm Byron and I'm a Startup Addict. It's been 7 months 3 days and 14 hours since I've last had Ramen. I knew I first hit rock bottom when I walked in the house one night before 9 PM and my daughter screamed to my wife, "Mommy! Hurry! A strange... Read More
Many recent forces have combined to create a “Startup Economy Renaissance.” Lately, walking the streets of non-traditional startup towns like New York, LA, and Washington DC, one is just as likely to bump into an aspiring startup founder as encountering an undiscovered actress serving tables in a Hollywood Boulevard diner.... Read More
As it's getting near the year i've scoured the over 150 articles I've posted this year and difficult as it was to find any of the 150 posts that had any value, I've lowered my bar and chose these 10 posts as my favorite for 2012. The Startup CEO New Years... Read More
In DC there is an online forum where accomplished experienced entrepreneurs, angel investors venture capitalists, senior startup analysts and many young folks entering the ecosystem discuss the region, startup concepts and strategy. It’s a place where people can discuss, debate and learn. It’s a forum for folks to get better,... Read More
I don’t get political signs. I’m driving down the street and I see a sign for Governor Romney. It just says Mitt Romney. Is that supposed persuade me to support him? What am I supposed to say, “Wow, I’ve never seen his name in all caps against a field of... Read More
When I was a single guy I was not a clothes hound. I know, no surprise, right? TJ Max, Target, CVS, those were my haberdasheries. Then I got married and the woman whom I love, the very same woman that beleived the ladies of "Sex In The City" were shoe... Read More
This company is amazing, that company is doing amazing things, that guy is amazing. The superlative amazing is just so abused. It’s overused on the DCTech Facebook Group page, it just might be used more often in InTheCapital articles than punctuation marks. Here there and everywhere you see amazingly abusive... Read More
Academia has kept pace with the disruptive hyper-change rate of PR and Marketing Theory about as well as middle east despots. It use to be that brand management was a Public Relations/Management thing. Today, Brand Management is dependent on Product Management. So here’s my MBA thesis on New Brand Marketing. With... Read More
I've had these random thoughts over the past year about the state of the startup market. I'm starting to fear that we may be near our next bubble. How do you know when you’re near a market top? Here’s some of the tongue-in-cheek, tea-leaves that have me a little concerned. Wantrepreneur... Read More
Talk to entrepreneurs who can’t get funded and they whine…. "we need to be more like Silicon Valley." Local governments trying to attract more capital and more high-tech businesses study and attempt to duplicate the Silicon Valley model.“In Silicon Valley, they do this. In Silicon Valley they do that. Silicon... Read More
The other day I received the following comment in response to my blog post, “The 5 Love Languages of Employee Retention.” It is in a very rare instance when common words in the English language can be protected. Company names and tag lines can be protected. A person can protect the... Read More
I’m here to announce that the "Next Big Thing" is not mobile apps, it’s not social, it’s not big data. Nope, the next paradigm-shifting, game-changing, sea-changing, blue-ocean market is Taco Technology (no doubt using lean startup concepts in their lean beef).First the Tacocopter (which unfortunately was a hoax) and now... Read More
One of the signs that you’re near a bubble is when stories that could only be found in the Onion are being covered by the “legitimate” Media. File this one under when stupid ideas meet cutting edge technology.Just what the world needs…. Tacocopter has announced their private beta for customers... Read More
SXSW is officially about 3 things: Interactive from 3/9 – 3/13 Film from 3/9 – 3/17 Music from 3/13 – 3/18Now if you have a Platinum Pass good for Interactive, Film and Music you get access to all events. And if you want to get into the hot Film or Music Events, you... Read More
If the only way to divine a company’s core values is to read them on their web site, then their core values aren’t core values, they’re marketing hooey. When you say core values and their eyes roll, then you don’t have core values, you have delusions. When revenue at all costs is... Read More
So one of my favorite people bitched about my 2011 Deep Thoughts post being a disappointment and I couldn't agree with him more. So in an effort to redeem myself, I thought I'd dedicate a Deep Thought post to the almost too comical to be true political situation. In last week's Washington DC Ice... Read More
Imagine if Amazon.com did more than just sell you stuff. Imagine that they manufactured and delivered stuff. Imagine that they competed with other ecommerce sites like Overstock, manufacturers like Sony and Cannon, and shippers like FedEx and UPS. It would be a miracle if they excelled at any of those... Read More
